I'm still not sold on McHugh long term. Maybe just the cynic in me. I could see a sell-high scenario with him. I don't know how much more leash Peacock could have. It would be nice to see NiTro get a shot in Sept.
Ohhhhh you're only saying that about Peacock since he has given up 5 or more ER in 3 of his past 4 starts... Or that we are 3-8 in his past 11 starts... Or that he has made it to the sixth inning in 2 of his past 11 starts... Or that opponents have an .830 OPS against him this entire season... Or that he just sucks. I am so tired of seeing this guy pitch. NiTro is worth throwing out there or even Jake Buchanan. Or a nice dog. I would rather watch Wishbone try to pitch than this joker.
I agree. I think the starting rotation will be Keuchel, McHugh, Oberholtzer, Feldman, and Tropeano if the Astros don't sign another starting pitcher.
Yes please trade him, we could get some great A or AA prospects for him. That would be sweet #asset city
Sell-high is always on Luhnow's mind. After the deadline, he discussed the offers he got on Mchugh. He said they were extremely underwhelming and believes that other teams think that because Mchugh was a waiver claim that the Astros would be willing to trade him cheaply. Which is ludicrous because he put up better than a strikeout per inning and near 3 ERA AND has 5 years of team control left. Even if you're not sold on Mchugh long term, he's easily bought himself multiple chances with 2.2 WAR over 60% of a season. Think of how much rope Lucas Harrell got.
I am not sold on McHugh as being as good as he has been this season, but I think he is at least a BoR guy going forward. I've expected him to fall off more from earlier in the season, but after a little rough patch, he's put together a very good last nine games (albeit with a couple of multi-homer games). On a side note, Keuchel, McHugh, Oberholtzer, Cosart, Sipp, Fields, and Qualls all have outperformed their projections this year. Feldman is a little lower than projections and Peacock while not predicted to be much has produced even less. Williams was more a less on his projections as a bad pitcher. Porter does some weird things (mostly bad), but whatever he's doing, he isn't hurting pitcher development.
If the Astros actually invest money in a starting pitcher this offseason they are much stupider than I thought. Between Folty, Buchanan, White, Woj, Nitro, Shirley, Cruz and Appel there are more than enough pitchers worth a look next season versus wasting money on a guy. Frankly they should be looking hard to get rid of the space filler guy they signed this season. No way they should even consider moving McHugh unless we get a genuinely great offer, and even then I wouldn't be crazy about it. At a certain point you have to stop trading players and try to put the best team on the field. If he regresses so be it.
I think 2016 is the first year the Astros try to compete again. I don't expect the Astros will wait until 2016 to start adding veteran help. If the Astros can get a No. 1 or No. 2 pitcher in free agency at market value for three or more years, they do it. I don't expect it, but I wouldn't rule it out either. Luhnow appears to be very very comfortable making trades. Potential starting pitching is nice currency to have at the trade market if Astros are able to get another ToR pitcher.
I am usually very skeptical of a guy suddenly putting it together in his 20's. However, I will say McHugh has a shot for one reason.... he has literally one of the top 5-10 pitches in all of baseball. When a pitcher has that, it is a hell of a lot easier to get by, even with mediocre secondary pitches.
Yeah.... it is just ODD. He has an era of 3.00, He has a whip of around 1.00, He has almost 10 K's per 9 innings, He has a better than 3/1 K to BB ratio, He only gives up 6.8 hits per 9 innings, Batters are only hitting 208 against him, Both righties and lefties struggle against him. He has literally all the stats that apply to dominant, elite pitchers covered this year. If the name on the back of his jersey was "Prince" or "Darvish" no one would bat an eye.
He was younger! I still stand by my statement! The way Pence was able to blossom even shocked the most knowledgable in the Astros organization at the time... and now he's getting overpaid to do it.
Yep... still doesn't mean they weren't "surprised" that his tendencies allowed him to not only stick in the big leagues, but have a tremendous amount of success.
Agreed... I know he was closer to 30 than 20 when they traded him, but he consistently had a high OPS in the minors... but the Astros HAD to have Huff to deliver them to the promised land of mediocrity!
I just remember Pence being the "only" good player in the system in 2007... and the writing was on the wall for what was going to happen in subsequent years (and it did happen... funny how that worked out).
It definitely means they had a lot of faith in him developing into a MLB player. I don't have your mind reading ability to know that the Astros picked Pence only based on the idea that they could change him away from his tendencies. Oddly, if my memory serves me right, they treated Pence a lot like they did Springer.
It goes back to what they were trying to "change" in him in the minors that they felt wouldn't translate in the majors. I remember reading at the time that nothing really changed, and he kept on producing... which is what "surprised" them. I also remember several "experts" here (not sure if you were one) educating me on how bad his defense was, and how his free swinging nature would need to be curtailed if he was going to stick. Of course, you could spend a lot more time analyzing prospects back then as there weren't all that many of them. Alright, didn't mean to de-rail this thread... we got a lot for Hunter Pence... a lot.
